Fatteh batenjen – chickpeas, aubergine, yogurt and pita

In a previous post i mentioned that Fatteh, that levantine dish, varies from one country to other; could be vegetarian or featuring meat, could also have potato or eggplant, but the main ingredients are chickpeas, yogurt and crushed toasted pita.

The arabic word “Fatteh”means “crushed”, so fatteh or fattet hummos has its name after the crushed toasted pita and so other middle eastern dishes with crushed toasted pita like “Fattoush”.

For this version of fatteh with aubergine you will need: (yield two portions)

2 medium aubergine cut in big cubes

3 pitas toasted and crushed in medium pieces

500g yogurt (or two cups)

2 tbsp tahina

1tsp salt

2 cups chickpeas boiled (could be canned)

1 tsp garlic powder or 2 cloves crushed

to top with:

50g butter

1/3 cup pine nuts

chopped parsley or mint for garnish

For a healthy option of this dish we will grill the aubergine in the oven after drizzling on top 2 tbsp of olive oil. and set aside

Same goes for the pitas, instead of frying them i will toast in the oven. When ready, put one layer of the toasted bread in a deep dish.

After boiling the chickpeas, or if you are using canned ones, add the garlic (cloves or powder) while it’s still hot, of course after removing its water, put on top of the pitas layer. Now distribute the aubergine evenly on the chickpeas.

To prepare the yogurt sauce, mix it with tahina and salt then pour it on the chickpeas and aubergine.

Fry the pine nuts with butter and drizzle over the yogurt and garnish with finely chopped parsley or mint.

It’s one of my favorite dishes, and as mentioned before, it is a versatile one. You can enjoy it vegetarian or you can add ground beef or chicken. Very easy and quick, using simple available ingredients and hold so much flavors!

If you’ve tried this or any other recipe on the blog please let me know the result, I love hearing from you!

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